Melbourne, Australia

Laneways by Ovolo

Price per night from$133.11

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (AUD202.73), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Graphic luxe

Setting

Stylish side of the CBD

Super-central modern design den Laneways by Ovolo is all about easy living, with every handy extra you could need for a well-sorted stay thrown in. Kick back in your sleek and spacious room – or the Penthouse Suite's rooftop Jacuzzi – and enjoy the free WiFi and Apple TV. Bespoke street art inspired by local laneways decks the halls; and you couldn't be better placed for rocking the city's hipster haunts.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

Daily breakfast for two

Facilities

Photos Laneways by Ovolo facilities

Need to know

Rooms

43, including 27 suites.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 2pm, but both flexible subject to availability.

Prices

Double rooms from £114.99 (AU$223), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates include bottled water, Apple TV and local calls. Rates exclude a credit-card surcharge for Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Diners Club payments.

Also

Each floor sports its own laneway-inspired street art; we like the primary-hued doors, colour-coded for each room type, too. Guests can use Genesis gym, a three-minute walk from the hotel, for free (open 6am–9pm from Monday to Thursday, 6am–8pm on Fridays, 8am–noon on Saturdays and closed on Sundays).

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout, lobby with newspapers for guests to nab. In rooms: flatscreen TV with Foxtel satellite channels and Apple TV, radio, Vanity Group bath products. One-bedroom Suites come with a microwave and bar fridge; Terrace and Penthouse suites offer dining areas and terraces.

Our favourite rooms

For a separate lounge aim for a One-bedroom Suite – ideal for leisure trips or travelling with kids. To lord it over the CBD, we love the fifth-floor Terrace Suites and Penthouse, which feature city-view terraces. One of the Terrace Suites (OMG3) sports a punch bag and boxing gloves; the Penthouse stars a Pinball machine and outdoor Jacuzzi.

Packing tips

No need to bring an adaptor; all rooms come with a universal one, making charge-ups a breeze. If you've bagged the Terrace or Penthouse rooms, a sun-hat and shades are our top tips for alfresco lounging (pack a swimsuit for the Penthouse Jacuzzi).

Pet‐friendly

Subject to availability, four-legged friends are welcome for a charge of AUD$80 a pet a night (a maximum of two a room); beds, bowls, baggies and snacks are provided. See more pet-friendly hotels in Melbourne.

Children

Welcome. Ideally, book a boudoir with a second bedroom for additional space.

Food and Drink

Photos Laneways by Ovolo food and drink

Top Table

Outdoors on your view-blessed terrace table if you've bagged the Penthouse. The huge indoor table in the kitchen/lounge is pretty convivial, too.

Dress Code

Gals bring your best black frock and Converse trainers; guys, think skinny jeans and facial hair, perfect for chiming in with the graffiti-chic going down here.

Hotel restaurant

Laneways doesn't have a restaurant, but with so many rated local dining spots, you ain't going to starve. The softly lit, seating-lined lobby acts as a sociable space for informal grazing though, offering three kinds of 'Grab n Go' breakfasts, each with a muffin, muesli, fruit and juice; you're welcome to make yourself a T2 tea or fill a cup from the coffee machine all day, too. Need a sugar hit? There are free candy bars too.

Hotel bar

There's no bar at Laneways, but swing by the lobby between 6pm and 7pm to join in the relaxed 'happy hour'. Guests in the Penthouse can also buy wine from the team, which you can cool in the massive fridge.

Location

Photos Laneways by Ovolo location
Address
Laneways by Ovolo
19 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
3000
Australia

Laneways by Ovolo is at 19 Little Bourke Street on the east side of the CBD, just a hop from Spring Street and Parliament House. It's within walking distance of many city sights.

Planes

Fly into Melbourne Airport (www.melbourneairport.com.au), 22 kilometres north-west of the centre at Tullamarine, which receives domestic and international flights. From the airport rank you can catch a metered taxi to Laneways, or take the Skybus (www.skybus.com.au) shuttle service to Southern Cross Station in the CBD for AU$20 for a single, then bag a cab from there. The hotel offers roundtrip transfers for AU$60–80.

Trains

Melbourne’s main railway hub is Flinders Street Station in the CBD, just one stop away from Southern Cross Station where V/Line (www.vline.com.au) trains depart for rural Victoria and interstate destinations. Laneways's nearest station is Parliament, just a minute's walk away, which connects around the city loop and to metropolitan destinations further afield.

Automobiles

Arriving with your own wheels? The Ovolo's partner car park (Wilson Parking, 55 Bourke Street) is about 500 metres from the hotel, costing AU$16 for 24 hours or per exit for hotel guests (call in to Laneways first if you need directions). To reach the hotel, enter Little Bourke Street from Spring Street, and you'll spy it after about 30 metres on the left.

Other

Melbourne's iconic trams are one of the best ways to get about town; buy a Myki travel card (www.myki.com.au) online or from a train station to use on trams, buses or metropolitan trains. You can top it up at tram stops or select retail outlets, such as 7-Eleven stores. The nearest tram stops to Laneways are on Spring Street, Bourke Street or Collins.

Worth getting out of bed for

You're handy for the Princess Theatre, just round the corner on Spring Street, if you want to take in a show, Chinatown for food, and the MCG for sporting events. It's also a short walk to Southbank for riverside rambles, Federation Square and St Kilda Road for the NGV art galleries or Fitzroy for edgier stores (make for Gertrude, Smith, Brunswick and Johnston streets). If you want to stock up for a picnic in nearby Treasury or Fitzroy Gardens, swing by Spring St Grocer (+61 (0)3 9639 0335) at 157 Spring Street, a dreamy deli which boasts a cheese room, charcuterie, gelateria, coffees and takeaway dishes by chef Ian Curley (from the European). For more seasonal produce, Queen Victoria Market is only a walk or tram ride west.

For a designer shopping hit, the CBD is your oyster. Make for the major department stores Myer, David Jones and H&M, the giant Swedish retailer occupying the site of the former GPO. Flinders Lane is a good bet for independent galleries, stores, bars and restaurants; Degraves Street is a one-stop foodie fix. 

Local restaurants

A quartet of respected restaurants are all within a wander of Laneways. Head to Longrain (+61 (0)3 9671 3151), across the road at 44 Little Bourke Street, for gorgeous Thai fare in Scandi-sleek surrounds. Just a couple of laneways away, Gingerboy (+61 (0)3 9662 4200), at 27–29 Crossley Street, is a must for Asian hawker market-inspired dishes, with sharing plates served in a modern space. For elegant Euro treats in an intimate setting, stroll to the European (+61 (0) 9654 0811) at 161 Spring Street, open from breakfast to dinner daily. For sophisticated Italian, make for Grossi Florentino (+61 (0)3 9662 1811), at 80 Bourke Street, which sports a more formal Restaurant and Grill, and a more casual enoteca, the Cellar Bar, ideal for a nibble over a glass of white.

If you can handle the queue, Mexican du jour Mamasita (+61 (0)3 9650 3821) serves tasty cerviches, tacos and quesadillas at Level 1, 11 Collins Street. For Vietnamese rice paper rolls, dumplings and pancakes, pop to casually cool Miss Chu at 297 Exhibition Street. For grazing right beside Laneways, try Italian restaurant Mezzo (+61 (0)3 9650 0988) at 35 Little Bourke Street.

Local cafés

Right opposite Laneways, your nearest caffeine hit is Le Petite Bourke (+61 (0)3 9663 4484), at 24 Little Bourke Street, a retro-cute Turkish café serving muffins, tarts, filo-pastry filled with feta and spinach, Turkish delight and more, with quaint, traditional interiors. For heart-starting espresso all day (or a stomach-filling plate of pasta at lunch), commandeer a bar stool at iconic Melbourne café Pellegrini's (+66 (0)3 9662 1885) at 66 Bourke Street, opposite Von Haus. Old-school cool rules, along with an older clientele who've been patronising the joint for years. Also nearby, hip café Self-Preservation (+61 (0)3 9650 0523), at 70 Bourke Street, offers lip-smacking coffee, wine and seasonal food, backdropped by art and jewellery. Another minimal port of call is The Mess Hall (+61 (0)3 9654 6800), at 51 Bourke Street; bag a table by the window for pizza, pasta and top people-watching at lunch.

Local bars

Aim for the skies at two of Melbourne's best rooftop bars. Siglo, the chic terrace bar above the European on Spring Street, is ideal for quaffing fine wine with views over Parliament House. The crowd can be a tad conservative, so dress up a dash. Kookier and kitscher, Madame Brussels (+61 (0) 9662 2775), at Level 3, 59–63 Bourke Street, is all about necking Pimm's in a faux-garden party rooftop pad, with wait staff togged up in Fred Perry tennis whites (take the lift to the left of ground-floor Spaghetti Tree). If you'd prefer to stay on terra firma, you won't go wrong at stylish City Wine Shop (+61 (0)3 9654 6657), at 159 Spring Street beside Siglo, which offers a smart edit of Australian and European wines, cheese, olives and light bites, with romantic seats inside and airy ones spilling onto the pavement. For a true insider laneway tip, check out secretive combo Double Happiness and New Gold Mountain (+61 (0)3 9650 4488), a pair of seductive sister cocktail bars squirreled away at 21 Liverpool Street (look for the bike mounted on the façade).

Reviews

Photos Laneways by Ovolo reviews
Danielle Oppermann

Anonymous review

By Danielle Oppermann, Tastemaker

Fancy mixing business with pleasure? Melbourne has to be one of the best places for a bleisure trip, so Mr Smith decides to join me at the end of a work foray, leaving our two-year-old with Granny Smith. We’re after a weekend doing what parents of a toddler can usually only dream about – bar- and restaurant-hopping around the city, as well as spending quality time together with lots of the S-word. Sleep. We soon discover that Laneways by Ovolo makes a great base for both sides of that equation, with its playful, modern mood and a location that allows us to pack in as much foodie action as possible.

Tucked away at the Parliament House end of Little Bourke Street, Laneways is in a prime position to enjoy the fab CBD drinking and dining spots around every corner, and Chinatown with its dumpling houses is just down the road. We step into the shiny new foyer, with its space-age silver eggs migrating across the walls and ceiling, and instantly feel like we’ve found our ideal city pad. Dapper, smiling young staff sit with laptops at the reception desk and check us into our room. Happy hour, when guests gather around the lobby’s leather banquettes to take advantage of free beer and wine, is about to start.

Petite but perfectly formed, our room is up on level four behind one of the primary-coloured doors. We note the cheery blackboard greeting and spot the goodie bag of complimentary snacks. We’re just about to tuck in (Mr Smith) and hit the shower (Mrs), when a call comes through from reception with a confession – there’s been a mix-up with two similarly named guests checking in on the same day, and if we’d like to move we can have the room we actually booked, our more spacious One-bedroom Suite. So it’s back past the astro-turfed benches and backlit artworks to our level two boudoir, which comes complete with a separate king-size bedroom, roomy lounge with chaise sofa and a beanbag, plus a kitchenette. The bathroom is slick, with subway-tiled walls and a rainshower, and the hair dryer passes my all-important test, firing on all cylinders rather than the standard hotel-issue variety lacking in puff. Even the Malin+Goetz bath products imported from NYC are fitting for a foodie getaway, with ingredients including cilantro, peppermint and rum.

Snacks, showers, free beer and sav blanc (ready to go in single-serve glasses) from the minibar follow swiftly, then it’s out into the balmy evening for a pre-dinner drink. It’s so warm that we opt for one of the two rooftop bars within easy strolling distance. We head around the corner to Spring Street’s Siglo, above Melboume Supper Club, but while the waft of orange zest in the air promises a killer negroni, the queue proves too long. Instead, we opt for the fun and flirty Madame Brussels, where we look out over the many parasols and jugs of pink drinks to leafy Bourke Street. When the squawk of hen parties becomes overwhelming, we escape to Flinders Street and take our pick from some of the alluring dining hot spots – Cumulus Inc, Coda and Chin Chin. The winner tonight is Cumulus’ new bar Up, and our sole regret is that we order only one of the duck waffles to share. We weave our way back through the laneways, and on the home stretch discover that the Melbourne branch of glam Thai eatery Longrain is just across the road from the hotel. Perfect for a final cocktail and dessert at the bar.

Morning brings the ultimate luxury, a 10am sleep-in, easy to do in our all-white king bed and peaceful room set away from the street. By the time we emerge, we’ve missed Laneways’ complimentary Grab’n’Go breakfast of pastries and muffins, but no matter, our most ambitious plan for the day is brunch. We power up at the super-sized Nespresso machine, which is available for all-day refuelling, then hop aboard the number 96 tram at the end of the street. It takes us to East Brunswick’s legendary Pope Joan for Cuban sandwiches and heirloom tomato salad among chef Matt Wilkinson’s produce garden, with a Bloody Mary for good measure, then back to Fitzroy’s Gertude Street for some of Melbourne’s most eclectic and inspiring homewares and clothes shopping. I plan to continue shopping back in the city, but the heat and promise of an afternoon nap in our cool suite convince me otherwise.

Evening brings a repeat of the night before, this time with friends as we start with a pinot grigio and bar snacks at Grossi Florentino’s offshoot bar Ombra on Bourke, then cross town and continents for Japanese at the intimate Hihou. In typical Melbourne fashion, as we near home we stumble across New Gold Mountain, our favourite hidden bar discovered on our first trip to the city together. It’s been just metres away from Laneways all along, and one last cocktail completes the circle on a weekend of easy indulgence.

Book now

Price per night from $133.11